One of the tragedies of drug prohibition is that we have never developed a culture in which young people can learn how to use powerful drugs properly from older, wiser and more experienced psychonauts. I count myself lucky to have encountered such good teachers to guide me with such drugs as LSD, psilocybin, DMT, MDMA and mescaline.

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One of the best ‘weekend links’ entries I can think of. Kelly Louise Judd is a very nice.

Obviously you and I are not in disagreement that both of our countries have utterly backwards, borderline superstitious drug policies.

I may have to subscribe to this ‘rural colours’ group Arkhonia is affiliated with, that sample was on par with the best of Coil in my opinion. There were subtle underlying crackles of static underneath the main droning notes, that as played on my speakers, sounded as though someone were occasionally walking behind me though I was alone. Music that makes one simultaneously calm and paranoid, marvelous.

Speaking of Coil, its nice to see Sleazy is getting fairly widespread remembrance, even more so than John got it seems, especially considering when one mentions Coil people either have never heard of them or think your speaking of Lacuna Coil. It would be a little too strange though, if ‘most’ people could get into Coil.

Speaking of people no one remembers or ever knew about, I also agree that Philip K Dick wields formidable influence despite most people not being aware of it. One almost constantly sees new, rather foolish-looking and over-budgeted fantastic type movies that use very dumbed-down variants of some of Dick’s original themes and ideas.

I wish articles like the God’s wife one could get more notice. Its well accepted amongst actual scholars who are not Christians, Muslims, and Zionist Jews with social agendas, that the original tribes of Israel were not only originally pagan but probably remained so for far longer than most would think. There are many who think they were still polytheistic when they migrated out of Egypt, and may have remained so until the Persians, being monotheists before even the Jews, freed them from Babylon and in doing so spurred a shift towards a single deity, since it was a people of one god that freed them. This is all largely unproven, but there is evidence and history is being revised all the time, and religious people with literal interpretations of their respective scriptures can’t truly separate their beliefs from historical influence the way those with a more symbolic approach can. Anyways it all makes sense, they were surrounded by polytheists from the beginning. Many names for subservient angels in the Old Testament, and later enemies of god in the New Testament were actually variants or otherwise the very names themselves of older semitic deities. Many of the scrolls containing what is thought to be the beginnings of the original scriptures are often odds with one another and the official texts themselves, which are contradictory enough. There are old texts that have been found and dated to the proper time period in which those famous lines were somewhat different as to say, ‘Man was made in “our” image’ not mine, not a single speaker. Were these the original beliefs? There is also something very primeval and decidedly ‘not’ Abrahamic about the appearances of many of the angels as described in the older versions of the Hebrew bible, not on par with the farce of beautiful women with dove’s wings playing harps. The word Cherub is derived from Kherub, sphinx-like creatures in old Mesopotamian, and the Cherubs of the Old Testament were portrayed at times to have the heads of bulls, lions, vultures, and men all at once and multiple sets of wings, again far removed from the harmless, almost pedophiliac way in which they are depicted now, a nice Roman touch most likely. Of course, one who knows Crowley so well as yourself would already have known this. Just for the record as well, if there are any tolerant religious people reading this, No I do ‘not’ believe that every Christian, Muslim, and Jew has a hidden social agenda they’re pushing. If you’re a deeply nosy and prejudiced one in practice though, be as pissed off as you want to be, you probably shouldn’t even be reading this blog.

That PKD piece was of interest to me partly because I met the writer when I was in LA where he works as one of the Guardian’s film correspondents. We have a mutual friend and whilst at his house watched a BBC documentary I’d brought with me about Philip K Dick. All the time I was in LA I kept thinking of Dick’s works, I also paid a visit to the Bradbury building. Cinema gravitates to his themes very easily since it’s a dream-like medium that’s very good at conveying dislocation and unreality. These days I’d argue that we’re living in JG Ballard’s future as well but he’s had less attention from filmmakers.

Sleazy had a slightly longer history than John B due to his involvement pre- and post-Coil with Throbbing Gristle which probably accounts for the additional attention. But I think there’s also been a sense after his death that something special (ie: Coil) was finished for good even though the group ended with John’s death.

Regarding religion, many doctrinaire Christians have to remain ignorant about the history of their religion otherwise it throws doubt in places where there shouldn’t be any. The King James Bible is continually held up as an authority by fundamentalists yet it was a translation by a large group of English scholars, at a time when Catholics and Protestants were vying with each other for control of the “true” message. Consequently some of the translated passages are slanted in a way they wouldn’t have been if the translation had taken place before or after that time; then there’s the books that were rejected for being apocryphal… This article is a good account of the whole business.